8vo.
“Reflexions sur les grands hommes.” In the foreground various pranks of Death. In the distance, a church-yard with a regular dance, in a circle, of men, women, and Deaths, two of the latter sitting on a monument and playing on a violin and violoncello. Engraved by A. D. Putter. 12mo.
“La Dance Macabre, or Death’s Duell,” by W. C. i. e. Colman. Printed by Wm. Stansby, no date, 12mo. It has an elegantly engraved frontispiece by T. Cecill, with eight compartments, exhibiting Death with the pope, the emperor, the priest, the nobles, the painter, the priest, and the peasant. The poem, in six line stanzas, is of considerable merit, and entirely moral on the subject of Death, but it is not the Macaber Dance of Lydgate. At the end, the author apologizes for the title of his book, which, he says, was injuriously conferred by Roger Muchill upon a sermon of Dr. Donne’s, and adds a satirical epistle against “Muchill that never did good.” There certainly was a sermon by Donne, published by Muchill or Michel, with the title of “Death’s Duell.”
There appears to have been another edition of this book, the title-page only of which is preserved among Bagford’s collections among the Harl. MSS. No. 5930. It has the same printed title, with the initials W. C. and the name of W. Stansby. It is also without date. This frontispiece is on a curtain held by two winged boys. At the top, a figure of Death, at bottom another of Time kneeling on a globe. In the right-hand corner, which is torn, there seems to have been a hand coupé with a bracelet as a crest; in the left, a coat of arms with a cross boutonné arg. and sable, and four mullets, arg. and sable. On each side, four oval compartments, with the following subjects. 1. A pope, a cardinal, and four bishops. 2. Several monks and friars. 3. Several magistrates. 4. A schoolmaster reading to his pupils. 5. An emperor, a king, a queen, a duke, a duchess, and a male attendant. 6. A group of noblemen or gentlemen. 7. A painter painting a figure of Death, in the back ground a woman who seems to be purchasing articles of dress. 8. Two men with spades, one of them digging. This very beautiful print is engraved by T. Cecil. On the top of each of the above compartments, Death holds a string with both his hands.
“Theatrum omnium miserarum.” A theatre filled with a vast number of people. In the centre, an obelisk on a pedestal, behind which is a small stage with persons sitting. In the foreground, Death holding a cord, with which three naked figures are bound, and another Death with a naked figure in a net. Between these figures symbols of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. 4to.
“Les Consolations de l’Ame fidelle contre les frayeurs de la mort.” Death holds his scythe over a group of persons, consisting of an old man and a child near a grave, who are followed by a king, queen, and a shepherd, with various pious inscriptions. 8vo.
“La maniere de se bien preparer à la mort, par M. de Chertablon.” Anvers, 1700, 4to.
In an engraved frontispiece, a figure of Time or Death trampling upon a heap of articles expressive of worldly pomp and grandeur, strikes one end of his scythe against the door of a building, on which is inscribed “STATVTVM EST OMNIBVS HOMINIBVS. SEMEL MORI. Hebr. ix.”
At the bottom, within a frame ornamented with emblems of mortality, a sarcophagus with the skeleton of a man raised from it. Two Deaths are standing near, one of whom blows a trumpet, the other points upward with one hand, and holds a scythe in the other. On one side of the sarcophagus are several females weeping; on the other, a philosopher sitting, who addresses a group of sovereigns, &c. who are looking at the skeleton.